lifestyle

Vibrant in both color and flavor, this seasonal salad is a crowd pleaser. Bring along as your staple dish, or whip together for someone you love.

Recipe by Lex, with love!

Each ingredient was selected to help you look and feel your best:

Pomegranate, for a skin plumping collagen boost.

Butternut squash, for an immune boost and healthy vision.

Kale, for anti inflammatory properties to keep redness and puffiness at bay.

Honey, for an antioxidant boost to help protect you from free-radicals.

Red cabbage, for radiant glowing skin.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Salad Ingredients

4-5 large kale leaves

3 large carrots, grated

1 small red cabbage

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped (roughly 4 cups)

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/3 cup chopped, roasted almonds

2 tbs of olive oil

salt & pep

Dressing ingredients

1 tbs honey

2 tbs dijon mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

salt & pep

How to

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Place the cubed butternut squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tbs of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss until evenly coated. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes prior adding to salad.

Cut the stems from the kale leaves and discard. Chop the kale into thin ribbons and add to your mixing bowl. Massage the kale with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt to soften the fibrous leaves.

Chop the red cabbage into thin strips, similar to the texture of a coleslaw. Add the chopped cabbage to the mixing bowl, along with the freshly grated carrot, pomegranate seeds, feta, chopped almonds, and cooled butternut squash. Toss the salad until evenly combined.

To make the dressing, simply mix the honey, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper together with a fork. Set aside until ready to serve.

This salad is best when served at room temperature. For a vegan-friendly version, leave out the crumbled Feta. Pairs well with a refreshing and sparkling white wine. Want another seasonal recipe? Try this hearty forest in a bowl

Lex is a lifestyle contributor for Fred Darling and a good friend. She enjoys baking, sustainable shopping and Paris.

Last weekend we bid adieu to summer, and although bittersweet, I am ready for pullover sweaters, books in nooks, old fashioneds, smoking chimneys, mac and cheese casseroles, pumpkin carving and etc etc

I give our first outing of fall, Met’s exhibit of Heavenly Bodies, a solid A- (points lost for lack of a good latte)

A few highlights were:

Getting quality time with the people I enjoy

Having different conversation

Being sidetracked to the Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing

Coming face to face with a holy red Valentino!

Let go to savor too.

I am so excited for the change of seasons

The opportunity to start anew in all aspects of our lives

Is there a chapter of your story that could benefit from a fresh new POV?

Can we let go to rediscover ourselves in a whole new, low lying light?

I admit. I’m tired.

A few nights ago, a friend asked me what I had done during the days just before seeing her, and I honestly paused in disbelief because I couldn’t quite remember.

With the over-worked and over-connected world in which we live in, it’s no wonder more and more of us are seeking pause and refuge. And refuge as derived from the French word meaning “to flee.”

I was speaking with a HR rep who said she, and her 50 person fund-of-funds firm (with oh, just billions in assets), had been practicing a Japanese act of purging excess (aren’t we all just a little ironic?)

She says the practice asks you to sit with something you own to determine whether or not you absolutely LOVE IT because if you don’t LOVE IT, it challenges you to purge it instead.

I thought how fascinating it is that every culture has a practice to convey the same thing: the desire for less and meaning.

For me, Danish hygge is just that. A practice that is linked to the idea that real wealth is not what we can accumulate over time but what we have to share with others, and only if we LOVE IT.

I had an opportunity a few weeks back to disregard my iCal and jump in a rental to simply be with friends. Some of them I hadn’t seen in years. Others, only via Facetime.

Was it an easy decision? No. I thought, but what will it cost? How will I get back for my appointments on Wednesday? Do I have the right shoes? (Really)

And then I paused and thought of each of those familiar faces I hadn’t seen. And how much I LOVE them.

Life goes by so fast that, if we’re not careful, we miss it.

I will never forget that one weekend spent learning about farm and field and moving cattle in the afternoons. Feeling the mug in the air from an early summer coming.

Early evenings cooking food together and honoring their sources. Laughing and playing until our eyes were closing and sleeping in until you could smell the coffee brewing.

The taste of fresh cow’s milk. The smell of crimson strawberries. The scare of ticks on our skin.

New York City is truly the coolest little/big hub. A total cluster fudge of walks of life, story, taste. I love that at any given minute, you can meet the love of your life or, your new favorite cocktail.

Where: Antica Pesa, Williamsburg

What: The Dev, a magical sage and gin drink (and totally off the menu/secret!) by full time songstress, part time magical drink maker, Devon Rae

Lately, I’ve been more mindful of the benefits of eating in. Not only do we reduce our carbon footprint by eating locally, seasonally, but also, we eat better 🙂 Cooking at home is a simple delight to share with the ones you love, and a tradition for better health, longevity and well-being.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. And when I came across what looks like a forest in a bowl (veggies for breakfast? Yes please!) I was intrigued. Simple, delicious and packed with flavor, this recipe is a great green juice substitute that’s good for belly and skin.

Ingredients for 2

sea salt

1/4 pound leeks, white part only, finely chopped

1/4 pound baby spinach

4 spears of green asparagus

3 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 piece of kombu seaweed, approx. 0.7 ounce

1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder

1/2/ cup fresh or frozen baby peas

1 granny smith apple, skin on, cored and chopped into small cubes

How to

1. Bring a big pot of water to a boil and add a generous pinch of sea salt. Blanch the chopped leeks for 7 minutes and refresh in ice-cold water. Then blanch the spinach and asparagus for 1 minute each and refresh in ice-cold water.

2. Heat the stock with the kombu seaweed. Once it is simmering, take a few tablespoons of stock out and add it to a bowl with the matcha tea, little by little, while stirring. First you’ll have a thick paste, then add more stock until you have a runny mixture.

3. Add the peas to the pan of stock and heat for another 2 minutes, then add the leeks, spinach, asparagus, chopped apple, and the blended matcha tea. Discard the kombu. Remove the pan from the heat, stir, and serve.

Top London nutritionist Amelia Freer stands out for her love of nutrient dense recipes, hate for diet fads, and belief in the true healing powers of food. Get more of her recipes here.

My favorite date place?

The library.

With myself, with a girlfriend, with anyone who gets as excited about hardcovers as I do. And perhaps she’s to blame.

If I ever have a whole day off, I like to hop on the train and walk to a bookstore or library. Whichever one is still standing unfortunately. There’s nothing sweeter than grabbing a coffee drink and strolling along the many aisles of unread books while caffeinated. Piling the few that look good and then scoring a nook someplace warm to leaf through them. And if I go with someone, I like to leaf and share and then pry through theirs.

I’ve never really considered myself an extrovert and this probably proves it.

On one of my dates alone, I was particularly interested in the Danish way of living. I always wondered why they’re the happiest people. And so I piled on all of the books I could find on the matter and I discovered, while eating croissant, that there is a method to the happiness- hygge!

I won’t bore you over something you can google for more, but, in a nutpost, hygge is undefined but closely defined as “coziness of the soul.” And if that’s too aloof for you, a hug in English is the closest feeling.

Comfort, conviviality, simple indulgence and well being are hygge’s means of pleasure. Cooking with feel good foods from forest, field, farm, partaking in cake and buzzy drinks with friends, indulging in good kinship, maintaining a simply designed but efficient home to leave more time with dog, not cleaning up, spending time with nature and appreciating it even if from afar, these are some of the ways to hygge. And now my favorite means to happy.

For the rest of you lucky ones, you should know that SAD feels like low energy levels, mood swings, cravings for sweets and starches and not really desiring to see the non existing light of day. A total recipe for depression/disaster and/or menopause, but really SAD in this case.

What I didn’t know is that the trigger for all the above is less direct exposure to light and not the winter drop in temperature. In other words, you can experience SAD anytime of the year.

The best way to get a grip on life and reclaim your happy back then? More Vitamin D and psychotherapy. OR, good old simple sunshine finally! Which you can fake with light therapy or soak in as much as you can starting now.

With Spring here, what better way, and least expensive, to rid your blues than by stepping outside as much as you can to enjoy the longer and brighter days the season brings.

But you’re cooped up?

Try wherever you can. Opt out of ordering lunch and walk to get food instead. Or, take a hike on weekends instead of hitting the mill. If you have the luxury of an outdoor mall, ditch the AC and shop outside.

Do what you can but do go forth and relish in the beams with all the rest of the animals. I know I will.

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